San Francisco had amazing weather this past weekend. And I had company in town. So while we were out visiting the Exploratorium, I split off from the group for a few minutes and grabbed a little footage of the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina neighborhood. I hope you enjoy!

While I was researching the narration for the video I ended up learning a lot about the site that I didn’t originally know. For example, I had no idea that the palace of fine arts was once used as 18 tennis courts, storage for the Army, or as a telephone book distribution center. Telephone book? What’s that?! It was also such a popular building during the exposition that a campaign to save it from destruction had begun before the expo had even ended. And who says San Francisco hasn’t always liked a good cause?

The Palace of Fine Arts was originally built for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, which was theoretically a celebration of the opening of the Panama Canal but was really just a great excuse to throw a party and show the world how well San Francisco had recovered from the 1906 earthquake. For those of you who think San Francisco vanity is a recent phenomenon, I offer you the 1915 expo as proof that we’ve always been a vain city! It was completely demolished and rebuilt in 1965 because the lightweight materials it was originally built with were never designed to last for a long period and it was literally crumbling to the ground.

Another renovation and seismic upgrade were recently completed, and I highly encourage you to get outside and enjoy this San Francisco treasure. One more fun fact: Only two buildings built for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition remain standing in their original locations. One of them is the Palace of Fine Arts. Any guesses about the other building?

This morning, I had the pleasure of attending a luxury sales market-watch meeting on the 55th floor of San Francisco’s Millennium Tower. From our location in residence 55A (on the northwest corner of the building), I had a phenomenal view of the wrecking ball taking its first bites out of the Transbay Terminal. The Transbay terminal was originally built in the 1930’s (from one depression era project we lurch to another, but I digress…), and after the demolition is complete a new Transbay terminal will rise from the ashes.

There has been much talk about the Transbay Tower that is expected to be constructed along with the new terminal after demolition is complete. And when the economy and real estate were roaring along, plans were approved for a tower with a height of roughly 1,000 feet to be constructed. But then the bottom fell out of the world, and what will actually be built remains to be seen.

Construction plans at the transbay tower and terminal have also shifted a bit. Originally, the plan was to construct the newÂ terminal and then dig beneath it to make a home for high speed rail. However, thanks to the infusion of $400 million in stimulus funds (therefore (hopefully)Â eliminatingÂ all tea-partiers from ever using the high speed rail terminal) the really big hole in the ground for trains will be built now, which means once they finish tearing down the existing transbay structure they will spend about two years digging a very large hole in the ground.

Whether or not high-speed rail ever makes it to the transbay terminal (or any other terminus) in San Francisco after demolition is complete remains to be seen. As of this writing, it appears that the first high speed rail link to be built in California will go from Corcoran to Fresno. As a quick aside, we can understand completely why someone would want to flee Corcoran or Fresno as fast as transit will allow them, but we don’t reallyÂ understandÂ the point of trading one god-forsaken hellhole for another. Corcoran –> Anywhere but Fresno or Fresno –> Anywhere but Corcoran makes a whole heck of a lot more sense to use than Corcoran <–> Fresno. But hey, maybe some day, in a future far far away, you’ll be able to flee from either of those central valley spots to the transbay terminal of San Francisco.

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